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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Region's planning ministry on Wednesday said it was not consulted on Iraq's newly released poverty report, which was launched in Baghdad in coordination with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and a UK-based research center.
"This report was prepared without the knowledge of the Kurdistan Region's Ministry of Planning and the Kurdistan Region Statistics Office,' the ministry said in a statement, lamenting that Erbil's viewpoints were not taken into consideration.
The UNDP said on Wednesday that they, along with the Iraqi government and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) - the research center working on the measurement - have officially launched the Iraq Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) analytical report, 'marking a major step forward in the country's understanding of and response to poverty.'
According to the research center's website, they measure poverty by taking into consideration a household's health, education, and living standards - not just income and expenditure - 'to gain a greater understanding of the overlapping deprivations poor people face.'
During the ceremony, Iraqi Planning Minister Mohammed Ali Tamim said that 'the Iraqi government is taking serious attention to the poverty phenomenon, by adopting policies that are not only aimed at improving income, but also embark on a comprehensive development approach that addresses the multiple gaps that face broad sections of society,' according to his ministry.
The minister added that Iraq's MPI has decreased from 11.4 percent to 10.8 percent in 2024.
'Work should have been done jointly on this report and its details from the beginning so that the Kurdistan Regional Government's views could have been incorporated into it. Also, it was necessary for the final draft to reach us so that we could approve the results in advance and be prepared for the announcement ceremony and later benefit from its results,' the Region's planning ministry said.
According to the UNDP, the MPI report is based on the Iraq Household Socio-Economic Survey (2023–2024) and includes five dimensions: education, health, living standards, employment, and exposure to shocks.
The measurement also includes employment and household shocks such as climate change or income instability, which 'makes Iraq's MPI one of the most contextually relevant tools in the region.'
'The launch also includes a presentation of the methodology for developing the Women's Poverty Index, making Iraq one of the few countries in the region to establish a dedicated women-specific poverty measurement tool,' the UNDP said.
Sascha Graumann, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Iraq, said during the event that provinces such as Kirkuk and Baghdad have shown 'encouraging results,' but those such as Muthanna, Maysan, and Salahaddin 'still face relatively high levels of deprivation across several dimensions.'
Iraqi planning ministry spokesperson Abdul Zahra al-Hindawi told Rudaw on Wednesday that the report helps make it 'easier in setting the required and appropriate policies to combat poverty in Iraq.'
Regarding poverty rates by province, Hindawi said that Erbil has the lowest poverty rate at around 6.8 percent, followed by Duhok and Sulaimani provinces with 8 to 10 percent. He explained that Duhok previously hosted large waves of displacement during and after 2014, when the conflict with the Islamic State (ISIS) happened, and consequently, this affected the service and living standards in the province
'The Kurdistan Region provinces have the lowest poverty rates at the Iraqi level," he said.
According to the spokesperson, the highest poverty rate is in Muthanna province at 40 percent, although it saw a decline from 52 percent in 2022, followed by Diwaniyah, Dhi Qar, Maysan, and Nineveh.
Sangar Abdulrahman contributed to this report.
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